Huge blow for Nock bosses as IOC strips them of voting powers

International Olympics Committee (IOC) has stripped the National Olympics Committee-Kenya Executive Committee members voting rights in its new road map for elections under a new Constitution set for March in a move that threatens to end their extended stay in power.

The old road map that set a December 2016 deadline for elections under the new Constitution was not met as a meeting called for all stakeholders aborted in the presence of IOC officials forcing the international body to intervene.

In a letter sent by Pere Miro, the IOC Deputy Director General to Nock president, Dr. Kipchoge Keino and copied to Sports Cabinet Secretary Dr. Hassan Wario, the IOC together with ANOCA has given the national body new deadlines failure to which Kenya will be banned from future editions of the quadrennial Olympics Games and other related activities.

The first condition stipulates Nock will formally convene an Extraordinary General Assembly at the end of this month or the beginning of February to consider and adopt the revised Constitution.

Also the IOC says that Nock should proceed with final consultations with its affiliate members and stakeholders before consolidating a final draft reflecting comments and contributions received from the members, stakeholders as well as the international body.

This final draft will be submitted to the IOC no later than February 7 for final review and prior approval, and will be subsequently circulated by the Nock to all members of the General Assembly at least one week prior to the Extraordinary General Assembly.

Once this step is completed, and the new Nock Constitution will be adopted by the Extraordinary General Assembly and formally approved by the IOC.

The national body will then have the green light to convene the Elective General Assembly to proceed with the quadrennial elections of the members of the Nock Executive Board in accordance with the new Constitution.

This Elective General Assembly should take place in March 2017 and will be supervised by the IOC/ANOCA.

-IOC Board-

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach waves the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, Jiangsu province August 28, 2014. REUTERS/Aly Song

If this does not happen, Miro says the case will be reported to the IOC Executive Board for further action in accordance with the Olympic Charter.

Under the new draft constitution, the IOC in its recommendations has dealt a mortal blow to the ambitions of current Nock executive officials had of returning to power by stripping them of voting rights.

The constitution recognizes members of the Executive Committee as non-voting members in such capacity in the meetings of the general assembly. This a major blow to the executive as it cuts off a potential 20 votes automatically.

All national federations affiliated to the international federations governing sports included in the programme of the Olympic Games are now recognized as voting members and must form the majority in the meeting of the General Assembly.

One woman representative elected pursuit to Rule 19.4 will also be eligible to vote.

Two Athletes Representatives in Nock- namely Catherine Ndereba and Tegla Loroupe- have also been given voting rights in the new draft.

“The two shall have participated in the Olympic Games and be active at the time of nomination, or who shall have recently retired having taken part in the Olympic Games provided the latter must retire from Membership of the Committee or from their respective posts, at the latest, by the end of the third Olympiad after the last Olympic Games in which they took part, as provided in Rule 19.5 of this Constitution,” the guidelines stipulate.

The IOC member or members for Kenya shall now have voting powers too.

The new directive is a big blow for the sitting executive since the previous arrangement gave them a big head start of 13 if they agreed to vote a bloc, a scenario that has seen them cling on to power and lock out any challenger.

Seven of them had the votes of their federations, meaning out of 21 member local governing bodies, seven federations automatically voted with the incumbents, leaving their opponents with a paltry 13 votes against 20.

As constituted, the NOCK execute has the following 13 members some who have stayed at the organisation for decades;

Kipchoge Keino- Chairman

Pius Ochieng- first vice chairman

Ben Ekumbo – Second vice Chairman

Francis K Paul – Secretary general

Chacha – deputy Secretary General

Fridah Shiroya – Treasurer

Stephen Soi – deputy treasurer

Paul Tergat – IOC Member

Tegla Lorupe – Athletes’ representative

Resham Bains – House committee member

Catherine Ndereba – House Committee member

Parvi Rawal – Women sports representative

Anna Njambi – House committee member

In addition to these 13 votes, Ochieng voted for weightlifting, Ekumbo voted for swimming, FK Paul voted for handball, Shiroya voted for Softball, Soi voted for Judo, Bains voted for hockey and Njambi voted for badminton.